Div. I Canton Sectional Rough inning costs Wooster vs. Perry

By AARON DORKSEN Daily Record Sports Editor

Thursday

May 10, 2012 at 4:00 AM

WOOSTER -- There was no position Wooster baseball coach Derek Boyd would have rather been in than his team leading Massillon Perry 3-1 in the top of the sixth, Ohio State recruit Luke McGee on the mound and a spirited home crowd cheering in their Div. III Canton Sectional semifinal Wednesday.

About a half hour later, Boyd would have probably liked to have been anywhere but the Wooster baseball field after he watched the Panthers score seven runs on just one hit in a nightmarish sixth that included five Wooster errors. It all led to an 8-3 Perry victory and a game that collapsed faster than a house of cards for the Generals.

"With our pitchers at the top of our rotation, I really thought we had a great chance to make some noise in the tournament," said Boyd, whose sixth-seeded Generals fell to 12-9. "This is a little bit of a shocker to me and that's taking nothing away from Perry (12-9, seeded eighth) because they played well.

"We had really been playing well, but unfortunately we kind of reverted back to the first part of the season when we couldn't even get out of our own way at times. That sixth inning felt like it lasted about a week."

One of Wooster's best plays of the season gave it a 3-1 lead when Seth Carnahan's perfectly executed suicide squeeze bunt scored not just one, but two runs in the bottom of the fifth. Carnahan bunted the ball down the third base line to easily score pinch-runner Ethan Keck from third and when Perry pitcher Jacob Flounders threw to first for the putout Aric Saal never stopped running to score all the way from second.

"That was kind of a designed play, with both Ethan and Aric running on the pitch," Boyd said. "Aric is a very smart baseball player and when he saw the throw go to first he knew what to do."

Unfortunately for the Generals, they seemingly forgot what to do on defense after that.

Flounders, who pitched all seven innings, struck out eight and walked just one in getting the win, then laid down a bunt.

McGee picked it up along the third base line, but his throw to first sailed high and down the right-field line, allowing one run to score and putting runners at second and third. Four more Wooster errors followed, sandwiched around the only hit of the inning -- a bloop run-scoring single into center field by Aaron Klaiber. On two of the errors, sky-high infield popups weren't caught.

Tom Huettner relieved McGee and got out of the jam, recording the final out of the sixth on a strikeout and fanning two more in a scoreless seventh.

"I felt really good entering the sixth with a two-run lead and our No. 1 pitcher on the mound," Boyd said. "I don't want to say you ever relax, but this definitely shows why I stress so much to get the first out of the inning.

"It was a situation where it hurt to walk those first two guys, but we also didn't handle ourselves very well in the field and I could have done a better job in the dugout. You can't single out any one individual. Luke wasn't as sharp as usual, but he kept us in the game and that's what we were hoping for from a senior leader. We've just gotta be better at little things, like catching pop flies and fielding bunts. Those things will drive us going into the summer for the underclassmen to get better for next year."

Flounders (5-1), a lefty who's headed to Malone, limited the Generals to five hits and only allowed one free pass. He benefitted from two drawn-in infielders throwing out Wooster runners on contact plays in the second and third innings that kept the Generals from pulling away early.

"I have no regrets about those plays," said Boyd, of sending the runners. "I like to be aggressive and we were trying to put the pressure on them, but they made good plays."

Both teams tried to scrape for runs any way they could throughout, but it was the Panthers who finally caused the Generals to crack.

"That's baseball and it was unfortunate for them and great for us," said Perry coach Dave Jones, of the decisive sixth inning. "It could have just as easily happened to us.

"They did score two runs in the fifth, but it was only a 3-1 game and still a small-ball situation. Jake did a good job putting the bunt down and that definitely got the momentum back on our side. There were two good pitchers out there today, but McGee didn't get the defensive support."

Nick Buckingham went 3-for-3 with a double to lead Wooster's offense, while Carnahan and Evan Bahler were both perfect in two trips. Bahler doubled in the second and scored on a single by Devonta Anderson.

Aaron Dorksen can be reached at 330-287-1621 or adorksen@the-daily-record.com. Follow him on Twitter at @adorksenTDR.

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